We are the longest running community for amphibian enthusiasts on the Internet. Our primary goal is the sharing of information on the maintenance and breeding of newts and salamanders in captivity. We are also actively involved in fieldwork and funding conservation of endangered species.

Right now you are viewing our community as a guest. This gives you limited access to our forum and resources. For example, you can only view the first message in any conversation in our "Advanced Topics" section, and guests can view but not respond to "for sale" or "want" adverts. Join our free community and get full access, post questions, your own photo gallery, PM other members, your own fully customizable Blog and many special features. Registration is fast, simple and totally free so please, join today! Problem? Please contact us.

After much deliberation the decision has been made to re-instate donation funding for caudata.org. Recent shortfalls in support and some minority attitudes led to a thorough review of funding options which also included a members poll. Thank you to all who voted and expressed an opinion.

One option available is the use of advertising revenue, and a number of you indicated that this would be acceptable if donations were no longer viable. We would like to avoid advertising if possible but recognise that its a realistic option should member support fall short.

Our intention is to make monthly donation income and spending figures available to forum members. This not only provides accounting transparency but gives a clear view of the donation scheme feasibility.

At minimum this site costs £50 ($77) a month to host, although there are ad hoc fees such as domain renewals and upgrades. We hope the generosity of members will continue to keep this wonderful forum ad free for many more years.

April 2010
Total money received after paypal fees: US$ 106.00*
April Hosting cost (converting $ to £): - US $ 78.47
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Remainder carried forward to May: US $ 27.53
Money received so far in May: US $ 4.50**
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Total money available so far for May costs: US $ 32.03
Approximate difference with May hosting fee: - US $ 46.44

* Denotes amount is approximate due to single € donation (yes, only one person donated in €uro for the whole of April - sadly, the vast majority of the money came from the US members in April).** Denotes amount is approximate due to another € donation

I figure even a $10 donation is cheaper than buying a book. I personally have never seen a book with even a fraction of the information available on this site. Well worth the money to keep the site up and running...

It just seems like Europeans are much less willing to donate, despite the huge silent membership we have from mainland Europe (hello in particular to our German and Dutch anonymous members).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Blecha

I figure even a $10 donation is cheaper than buying a book. I personally have never seen a book with even a fraction of the information available on this site. Well worth the money to keep the site up and running...

April 2010
Total money received after paypal fees: US$ 106.00*
April Hosting cost (converting $ to £): - US $ 78.47
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Remainder carried forward to May: US $ 27.53

May 2010
Money received so far in May: US $ 186.36**
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Total money available so far for May costs: US $ 218.39
Approximate difference with May hosting fee: US $ 139.92

* Denotes amount is approximate due to single € donation (yes, only one person donated in €uro for the whole of April - sadly, the vast majority of the money came from the US members in April).** Denotes amount is approximate due to another € donation

John I dont give a monkeys if your rich or not , if you wanted to charge an annual membership of say £4.99 how many active members are there? I think an annual membership would be the way forward
And even if it was starting to make money it could be poured back into the website or a newt charity?!
I love the information database on here,any idea I think about for newts I quickly cross reference the website to see if its already been tried

I think quietly reinstating donations would be a good idea, obviously don't go full wikipedia on us. An annually fee of $6.71 USD might scare people away, who can afford 61 cents a month? Yeah, that was sarcasm...